, 1887-01-28
A "PHONE' EXCHANGE.
TROUBLES AND ANNoYANces TO
WHICH THE GIRLS ARE SUBJECT.

Whit FG 1lhlo AXE oObJtC Y
Young Women of Good Physique Less
Liable to Get Confused whIIe at Work.
Business Methods in II Vocal sem
sorium.
l visited the telephone exchange for
the first time to-day. l beheld, as the
door was opened, twenty comely young
women sitting in a long row in easy arm
chairs, before tables, with endless appa-
ratus before them. That was the first
fact that l grasped. The next one was
that these girls were not shouting at all.
There was n low, indistinct murmur, and
that was all. AS approached nearer |
could hear, in tones not much above a
whisper, the ever monotonous "Helloi
hello!" mo. 42S." "Hello, helloi' ''Ye-esl'
''Good-byv' but one clear voice, in Il
good speaking tone, might have been
heard plainly across hat whole room
above all the business Of making the con-
nections for over two thousand people.
THE GIRLS AT WORK.
Every girl had strapped upon her head,
or at least held there by its own grip, an
apparatus composed Of crossed steel bands,
which held a sruall telephone receiver To
her ear. Before her, dangling by n long
wire in just such a position as to hang ex-
actly in front of her mouth, was the trans
mitter. Each girl leaned back in n COM
irritable attitude, and seemed entirely cool
and unconcerned, while both hands were
occupied in inserting wires with metal
plugs at their ends into certain holes be-
fore her and pulling them out again.
There were rows upon rows of these little
apertures, and every one of them repre-
scented somebody's telephone number.
Each girl takes care OF u limited num-
Der Of calls, which are signaled
to her by the dropping of n little
metallic tablet with the number of the
callers instrument upon it, but she has
within her reach, in those little apertures
that | have mentioned, every one of the
telephone numbers within the radius of
the exchange.
"These seem to be young women of ex-
cellent physique / said to the superin-
tendent, Mr.. Carly, as he invited me to a
seat by his desk.
1--WE insist upon that aid he; I'VE
have found that girls of good physique,
healthy young women, are much less
liable to irritation and impatience, much
less likely to get ratified than those who
are n little weak or Ill. 1t is not that the
work wears upon them so that only wo-
men Of unusual physique can stand it, but
thaN We hihot nave OptldbOIS WIN dEo
likely to keep their tempers and maintain
GOODNESS of demeanor. Does 1t deafen
themf / know Of but one case of an OPP
eratiye's hearing being affected, and that
might easily have been from some other
cause. They do not seem to suffer much
n~ervously, though there was one case OF
hysteria here last week.
CALL FOR A SUBSTITUTE.
lone of the girls-that one with the
slender figure and dark hair, neal the end
of the line-got confused and ratified, as
we call it, over a series Of vexations, and
asked to nave n substitute placed in her
chair. You see that we keep five subst-
tutes in the room to relieve those who de-
sire to be relieved at any time. Well,
this young woman ven into the girls
waiting room and had an attack OF hys-
terra there. Not infrequently something
occurs on the line-somebody gets impa-
tient and loses his temper-which troubles
the girls. They generally &C into their
room and ave n good cry, and come back
feeling better. They certainly seem to
like the work, though the pay is only 81
II week. The hours are not long, they sit
all day, they are relieved When needful
and the actual work seems to be agreeable
to them
There was u stunning sound under
the superintendent table. He held a
telephone receiver to his ear and talked
through a movable transmitter on the
table. Certainly he said in a low tone,
81 will relieve you" He summoned a
young woman from the window and mo-
toned to her to take the chair of one Of
the operators. He had been talking
with one of the girls not fifteen feet away
over the telephone. She could nave spoken
to him through the air by turning her
head, but it would have made a little noise
n confusion in the room and this modern
tower of Babel, this vocal sensorium of Il
whole city, is as quiet as u public library
reading room. The substitute girl took
the others place, two calls came
tumbling down at the same instant, and
somebody was undoubtedly vexed because
he was not answered for an instant while
she was making the other connection.
But it takes hut an instant.
1--WE like to have people who have tele-
phones come up here said the superin-
tendent. at gives them an idea how the
thing is done, and we notice that they sell
dom get impatient in the use of their tele-
phones afterward.n Certainly these girls
were not trifing with their work. The
superintendent by merely putting an In
strument to his ear can hear every word
that passes between any operator and the
people with whom h talks, and that
seems an almost unnecessary restraint.
Vexation makes the work harder for the
operator, and she avoids it. Women are
found to be better operators than men
though boys must be employed at night,
and that is why the day service is better
than that Of the night. Boston Post.
A Study in Shoes.
1t is to be feared. on the whole. That the